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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-01-14, Page 7APPRECIATION EVENING for LEONA ARMSTRONG in honour of her 23 Years on Grey Township Council Saturday, January 17th, 1998 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Brussels, Morris & Grey Community Centre Grey Township Council 1998 Wedding Showcase February 4, 1998 The Citizen will publish a multi-page insert featuring articles and advertising geared specifically to couples preparing to wed. To take advantage of this advertising opportunity, please call Les Cook or Jeannette McNeil at (519) 523-4792 before January 31, 1998. N1111111111111111\ THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1998. PAGE 7. Users will pay for costs of county inspections Despite concerns that higher fees for plumbing inspections might cause more illegal work, Huron County council Thursday approved a fee scale that will see users of the system pay all the costs. The new fee structure arose from a combination of the province assigning responsibility for plumb- ing and sewage connection to the municipalities, the downloading all costs for the county health units to the county. As a result the board of health and the planning and devel- opment department worked out a system designed to combine inspection staff from the two departments and reduce the number of inspections. A new rate struc- ture was designed based on the Huron County-councillors Thurs- day rejected a direct approach from two architects for reimbursement for extra work necessary during the renovation of the Huron County Courthouse. Alan Avis and John Rutledge of Goderich had formed a joint ven- ture to bid for the design portion of the $1.7 million renovation project. The bids had been accepted on a fixed-cost basis. But Avis and Rutledge argued that unforeseen problems in the renovation caused extra work. The contractor, they said, had been paid for this extra work, and they should be paid for the extra work they had done. They had submitted two bills, one for $13,000 for work on unforeseen changes and one for $2,600 for work on changes requested by the county. With interest payments since the bills were submitted in 1996, they now total nearly $20,000. The pair have been working through their lawyer to recover the money but the coun- ty had refused to pay. They wrote to all members of the new council and asked to appear to present their Letter Continued from page 4 The Lung Association when I was diagnosed with an unfamiliar lung disease and approached the organization for information and support. Since then I have attended seminars and programs which have taught me about living with lung disease. As well, my case has been used in research for a study conducted by a team of doctors from the University of Western Ontario. I know how important research projects supported by The Lung Association are. Again I would like to sincerely thank the generous people who have supported the 1997 Christmas Seal Campaign and encourage those who have not yet donated to call our community office at 1-519- 271-7500 or mail your donation to the Jenny Trout Centre, Suite 121, 342 Erie Street, Stratford, Ontario, N5A 2N4. It's not too late to give and The Lung Association desperately needs your help. Your donation will be used carefully to help fight lung disease. Yours sincerely, Trish MacGregor, Volunteer Chairperson The Lung Association, Huron- Perth Counties. amount of time taken to do various inspections and costed at the expense incurred by the depart- ments. In several areas, a fee will be applied for the first time while in others, fees will increase many times over. For instance, previously there had been no charge for inspection of a severance. Now there will be a $150 charge for a one or two lot severance and a $285 fee for more than two lots. At the top of the list for increases is the inspection fee for a Class 1 sewage system licence, which went from $100 to $1,395. It was increases like that which bottered some councillors like Brian McBurney, reeve of Tumber- ry. "I think the rates are too high," case. They argued that they had expected some changes would be made but not to the extent neces- sary. The problem began, they said, when the bids from contractors came in higher than expected and the county, instead of ordering changes to reduce the cost, decided to reduce its contingency fund to only $20,000 on a contract of more than $1 million. That meant, Avis argued, that when it came time to remove partitions and it was found the floors in different rooms were not on the same level, the contin- gency was quickly used up. As problems continued to arise, they had to spend a large amount of time finding ways to save money through such things as changing decorating finishes and lighting fix- tures, in order to keep the project on budget. "Our role increased because of the changes," Avis said. The changes were authorized by the county and normally architects are paid for such unforeseen changes just as the contractors are, he said. Avis noted that when addi- tional work was required after a fire Continued from page 1 was driven 300 metres and aban- doned. A 1993 Chev GM4 pickup was driven to Tuckersmith Twp. Sideroad 25/26 where it was rolled, just east of Hwy. 4. There was extensive damage to the truck. After rolling the 1992 Aerostar in Stanley Twp., a 1986 Chevy K10 pickup was taken from Lot 17, Conc. 2, Stanley Twp. It was found he argued. "I firmly believe it will drive the work underground." That, he said, was the experience else- where when fees were too high. If user pay was the principle the health unit was going to operate under, he said, then it should be charging restaurants for health inspections. Wingham Reeve Bruce Machan agreed, saying that the fees were a huge increase for plumbers. In large jobs, he said, it would be pos- sible to keep tabs on work being done but "what about the replace- ments that will happen on Saturday and Sunday and nobody knows." Machan said he had seen too many milkhouse drains put into farm drains over the years without being during the renovation process, the county did agree to pay for that work. In addition, Avis argued, they were unaware when they bid for the contract, that all construction had to be done outside the normal work- ing hours of the courthouse staff. "We became lighting rods for the tenants for their problems (with the contractor). We then had to work with the contractor to solve the problem. We were averaging 16 hours a week of staff time. Normal- ly we'd expect half that." But Warden Jack Coleman argued that the county tendered for the fixed-cost design contract, it did so precisely because it didn't want to get into a fee based on a percent- age of project costs. County Engineer Sandra Lawson said all the bids were based on the same rules and, she said, the con- tract specified that there be no noise between nine and five. But changes in construction are the norm, she said. Before she came to Huron County she had supervised a $24 million construe- Continued on page 18 at the end of a dead end of Railway St., Seaforth, with damage to the undercarriage and running boards. The Huron County OPP request assistance from the public to help solve these vehicle thefts. Anyone who observed these vehicles or per- sons or has knowledge of the offenses is asked to call Seaforth OPP at 524-0904, Goderich at 524- 8314 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 222-8477. inspected. The cost in the long run could be more expensive, he said. Doug Miller, reeve of West Wawanosh suggested there was an element of these inspections being for the benefit of the public and that the general tax base should perhaps pick up some of the cost. But others, like Clinton Reeve Carol Mitchell, said the total cost should be applied for the service. Perhaps, however, the service can be more cheaply delivered by someone other than the depart- ments in question, she said. Once the fees are in place the county can look at implementing the inspec- tion system. Mason Bailey, reeve of Blyth, said he felt that in downloading such services, the provincial gov- ernment is trying to get a message across about being more efficient. He said pressure must be put on Responding to objections from Morris Twp. and the Town of Exeter, Huron County council voted Thursday to postpone giving notice of intent to adopt its Waste Management Master Plan. Morris and Exeter had objected to the county proceeding toward adoption of the plan because it is based on the municipalities provid- ing landfill sites for northern and southern zones in the county, yet agreements haven't been reached between the county and the munici- palities. Morris Reeve Bert Elliott pro- posed a motion to postpone the start of the approval process until March 26, but Roy Triebner, reeve of Exeter, moved an amendment to remove the deadline, suggesting the date should be left open until both Exeter and Morris were comfort- able with the proposed agreement. "Neither Exeter nor Morris have departments to lower costs. Noting that the department says the equiv- alent of 3.8 full-time jobs is needed for inspections, he suggested that reducing the staffing to three peo- ple would cause efficiency. "I guess what made the price right (with the old fees) was the 75 per cent grant (from the province to the health unit)" said Warden Jack Coleman. "If the prices are t(So high then we better figure out how to bring them down," Mitchell argued. "I agree that we've got to get these costs down," said Bill Carnochan, reeve of Tuckersmith, "but whatever the costs are, it should be a 100-per-cent user fee." The majority of councillors agreed, defeating an amendment that would have charged 80 per cent of costs to those who needed inspections. indicated agreement to use their sites as zone sites," Triebner said. "It bothers me that we're trying to push this through." On three occa- sions both Exeter and Morris had provided written objections but the objections have been ignored, he said. "Quite frankly, a treatment in this manner certainly does not indicate that negotiations will go smoothly," he warned. Turnberry Reeve Brian McBur- ney supported the motion to delay the approval process. "To bully these municipalities is a poor way to negotiate," he said. Councillors accepted the motions to delay approval of the master plan until after negotiations had taken place. "We will do our utmost to achieve agreement at the earliest opportunity," Triebner promised but he said the county must co- operate to reach the agreement. Council rejects bid for remuneration OPP seek assistance County agrees to postpone waste management plan